“Ughhh...”
“It hurts. It hurts. It hurts...”
“My arm!”
The air was filled with the cries and groans of the wounded.
Lee Taeyeon clenched her fists, her face hardening.
They had barely managed to defeat the monsters.
But it was a victory riddled with losses. Half of the players had perished, and many of the survivors were severely injured.
The refuge she and the others had struggled so hard to create was now in ruins.
“Ugh...”
Lee Taeyeon suppressed a surge of emotion. She had witnessed countless horrors, and she thought she had grown accustomed to it, but that was a delusion. The stench of death and fear still filled the air, thick and unrelenting.
Grinding her teeth, she set to work.
She pulled out her items.
She purified the toxic land and reorganized their territory. She treated the wounded and eliminated the remaining monsters.
After a grueling effort, she managed to bring an end to it all.
“Ugh...”
“What... What is this...?”
However, the confusion hadn’t yet dissipated. Those who had clung to hope, looking to her for strength, now found themselves facing monsters that even she struggled to fend off, and despair had returned to their faces.
Just as she was struggling with what to say to them, Taesan spoke in a cold, detached tone.
“Get a grip. You survived by risking your lives, and now you plan to die wallowing in despair?”
His harsh words cut through to the survivors.
“Stand up. We are the last survivors on Earth. We’ve endured countless deaths to get here—are you really going to give up over something like this?”
“...”
People clenched their teeth. Gradually, despair and sorrow began to subside.
Taesan stepped back.
“It’s your turn now.”
“Ah, right,” Lee Taeyeon said, calming the people and rallying them to start rebuilding.
They reconstructed the damaged buildings. They fortified the protective barriers, making them stronger and larger than before, so that they would be more prepared for future attacks.
They also redefined their approach to dealing with monsters. Until now, whenever a powerful monster appeared, they had relied solely on Taesan and Lee Taeyeon.
But S-class monsters were a different matter; even the two of them could not guarantee victory. While they dealt with such monsters, the other players needed to devise ways to hold their ground.
There were numerous discussions.
“Were there waves even before I arrived?”
“Once. Many died then too.”
“So, this is the second one...”
---
Time continued to pass.
Players kept returning from the labyrinth. Given the long time that had passed, especially those on hard mode began to make their way back.
And so, the third wave began.
The monsters invaded.
Hundreds of A-class monsters and multiple S-class monsters attacked.
“Aaaaargh!”
Lee Taeyeon let out a scream of rage.
“Die!”
She used all the valuable items she had been saving.
Humans and monsters slaughtered each other.
In the end, they won another victory filled with losses.
“Damn it...”
Lee Taeyeon collapsed, coughing up blood. This time, they had barely made it. Despite knowing the strength of their enemies and preparing thoroughly, she had been pushed to the brink of death.
She forced herself to stand on her shaky knees. Survivors cheered weakly, struggling to celebrate even though many had died and their territory lay in ruins.
Crack.
The sky distorted.
With a pale face, Lee Taeyeon looked up at the crack in the heavens. From within, she could feel a gaze bearing down upon her.
“Ah...”
A shiver ran down her spine.
The power emanating from beyond the crack was terrifyingly strong.
She wasn’t the only one who felt it. The Easy and Normal mode players collapsed, unable to endure the gaze. The Hard mode players barely managed to withstand it, trembling uncontrollably.
And then...
The gaze vanished. People collapsed, gasping for breath.
“...What was that?” Taesan’s voice echoed, his expression grim.
---
They managed to repair the damage.
They restored the broken barriers and repaired the destroyed buildings. Using the experience gained from their previous battles, they trained even harder.
But no one smiled.
When Lee Taeyeon first returned, most of those who had looked to her with trust in their eyes were now dead. Those who remained had lost any hope of survival. They moved only out of a stubborn refusal to die quietly.
“Ha...”
Lee Taeyeon let out a bitter laugh.
The gaze from beyond the crack after the wave...
The creature that would come next to invade Earth... She knew exactly what it was.
“A Herald...”
An existence beyond mortality.
Even if she were to die and come back to life countless times, she could never defeat it.
Though the others might not have fully understood, they, too, seemed to instinctively realize it. That power beyond the crack was something they could never hope to reach.
There was no hope in sight.
Everyone lived with death close by.
“What are you doing?” Taesan frowned as he watched them.
“If you’re planning on killing yourselves, go outside the barrier and die. Don’t drag down those who are fighting to survive.”
“But...”
“But what? Just because we can’t win, you’re ready to give up? Is that why you cleared the labyrinth?”
“Hyung, calm down,” Kim Joong-geun hurried over to Taesan, who continued coldly.
“I have no plans to die. I’ll do everything I can to win.”
His voice was icy.
But he wasn’t wrong. They hadn’t conquered the labyrinth to die; they did it to survive. Now was not the time to surrender their lives just because they faced an unbeatable foe.
To give up now would be an insult to the lives they had fought so hard to live.
The people clenched their teeth and began moving.
Lee Taeyeon watched from afar with a bitter smile.
That was her role. She was the only player to have conquered the Alone mode, the leader who was supposed to inspire and rally the people. Yet here was Taesan, an Easy mode player, fulfilling that role in her stead.
‘A true leader is...’
Not her, but Taesan.
But Taesan could never be the leader. He was, after all, just an Easy mode player.
Lee Taeyeon bit her lip.
Time continued to pass.
They repaired the damage. Alongside the players returning from the labyrinth, they worked to expand their territory again.
But the monsters scattered across the world grew stronger. It was becoming increasingly difficult for anyone other than Hard mode players to survive.
As a result, their numbers continued to dwindle.
“Hm...”
Lee Taeyeon looked at the crack in the sky with an ambiguous expression.
It had been some time since the third wave. The fourth wave might start soon.
“Guess I’d better take a look.”
She leapt into the air.
“Joong-geun, I’ll go scout for a bit. Taesan went after some fleeing Hard mode player, right?”
“Yes. I imagine he’ll return alone, though,” Kim Joong-geun said with a bitter smile. Lee Taeyeon shook her head.
“I’ll be back.”
“Take care.”
Lee Taeyeon concealed herself fully and moved beyond the barrier.
She gazed at the massive wall protecting the people with a sorrowful expression.
Massive though it was, it fit easily within her field of vision. The remaining human population had dwindled to the point where they could all be protected within a single barrier.
“Sigh.”
She steadied herself and sprang forward.
Just like before, she arrived beneath the crack in the sky. Thanks to her experience, she could gauge the start of the next wave based on the energy fluctuations emanating from the crack.
“Huh?”
She studied the energy quietly, her eyes widening.
The power from the crack was fluctuating erratically.
“Oh...”
Her legs trembled. It was a familiar energy pattern.
The wave would begin in less than a week.
And then...
A gaze from beyond the crack fell upon her.
For a moment, Lee Taeyeon couldn’t breathe. She had activated every stealth skill she possessed. Even a single-digit S-class couldn’t detect her presence up close.
Yet the gaze beyond the crack was fully aware of her.
The gaze lingered briefly before disappearing.
“Ha... Haha.”
After some time, she let out a hollow, despair-filled laugh.
Staggering, she returned to their shelter.
The people awaiting her arrival cheered when they saw her.
“Oh! Miss Taeyeon! You’re back?”
“How was it this time?”
She stared at them for a moment before speaking.
“...Where’s Taesan?”
“Taesan? He’s training a newly returned Hard mode player right now.”
“...I see.”
She walked past them slowly. The man who had answered looked at her, puzzled.
“Is something wrong?”
“No.”
After a moment’s hesitation, she spoke.
“Tell Taesan to come see me tomorrow.”
---
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The ticking of a clock echoed in her room.
She stared vacantly around her space, filled with trinkets and decorations meant to mask her feelings.
Now, they held no meaning. It was all over, anyway.
‘There’s no way we can win.’
There was no chance of victory. Knowing this, she activated a skill.
[You have activated Ten Thousand Possibilities.]
Is there a possibility of victory in a battle against a Herald?
The skill sought an answer.
Every outcome led to her death.
[You have activated Ten Thousand Exclusions.]
[You have activated Ten Thousand Possibilities.]
[You have... ]
Over and over, she activated the skill. Hundreds, thousands of times, she repeated it, seeking an answer
through countless deaths.
But no other result appeared.
Exhausting all her mana, unable to activate the skill any longer, she was left with nothing but death.
Her trembling hand clutched her chest.
In a week, she would die.
Her breathing grew labored. The fear she had tried so hard to suppress washed over her.
“Haha...”
She reached into her pocket, gripping a solid object.
The Ouroboros Stone.
It would allow her to turn back time once.
If she used this item, she could survive for now.
But she couldn’t bring herself to use it.
Would she really go back and clear the labyrinth again? That hellish place?
Turning back time would reset her abilities to what they were in the past, reducing her to her weaker, former self.
She couldn’t guarantee she’d be able to conquer the labyrinth again. Her initial success had been nothing short of a miracle.
And even if she did clear it again, she’d end up back on Earth. She couldn’t abandon the survivors here to live her life in the labyrinth.
Yet the thought of dying here terrified her.
Unable to decide, she remained there, grappling with an endless, unsolvable dilemma.
Would she meet her end here?
Or would she return to the labyrinth?
Her mind was in turmoil, unable to tilt toward either option.
While she was lost in thought, she sensed someone approaching.
She realized it was Taesan.
“Didn’t I tell him to come tomorrow?”
She checked the time and realized she had been agonizing over this for an entire day.
‘No!’
She couldn’t face Taesan like this.
Quickly, she forced herself to appear calm.
Creak.
The door opened, and an exasperated voice echoed.
“Seriously, haven’t you given up on that weird habit?”
“I don’t care to hear your opinion on my tastes.”
Her mouth moved automatically.
Thanks to her years of practice, she had become an excellent actor. Though she hadn’t reached a decision, she greeted Taesan with a perfect mask of composure.